


The Act of Remembrance

by rachelisconfused



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Marauders' Era, jily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 19:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10725447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rachelisconfused/pseuds/rachelisconfused
Summary: Lily Evans liked to think that she wasn’t necessarily a nostalgic person. Sure, every now and then she would allow herself the opportunity to remember how things once were, especially when she was at Hogwarts. Despite the fact that she was only twenty-one, she smiled and laughed fondly at the “good ol’ days”.





	The Act of Remembrance

Lily Evans liked to think that she wasn’t necessarily a nostalgic person. Sure, every now and then she would allow herself the opportunity to remember how things once were, especially when she was at Hogwarts. Despite the fact that she was only twenty-one, she smiled and laughed fondly at the “good ol’ days”.   
She could close her eyes and practically feel the warmth of the Gryffindor common room. She loved her springy armchair near the roaring fireplace, watching and laughing along as the Marauders attempted to play Wizards’ Chess— a feat that almost always ended up in a heartbreaking argument about how someone was always scheming and cheating their way to victory. She could remember the way that James Potter glanced lovingly at her nearly every time she laughed at their foolish antics and how she desperately tried to hide it by pretending she read something funny.   
Lily Evans could remember what it was like to roam the numerous and practically unending corridors at Hogwarts. She could remember her very first day at Hogwarts— staring with an open mouth, gaping at all of the moving staircases and the talking portraits. She knew of all of the events that happened in those hallways— both the good and the bad. Lily remembered walking arm in arm with some of her best friends, laughing as they whispered back and forth with each other. She recalled the aching feeling in her legs as she raced to class on the days that she was late, praying her professors wouldn’t notice her absence. Sadly, she also remembered the duels that took place— the spontaneous ones that began with mysterious hexes being thrown at another in any sort of attempt to harm them. She was thankful that there was almost always someone there to stop the battling from progressing too far, yet she still flinched at the memories of the times when she was left to fend for herself.   
She could remember the Great Lake and all of the mischief that happened there. She remembered the Giant Squid lurking in the bottom of lake and the disgusted look on James Potter’s face when she told him she would rather date it than him. Lily reminisced about the days where she would sit near the edge of the water and soak in the sun while reading a her Charms textbook. She remembered the days when her heart would flutter furiously due to the fact that the sun happened to be hitting James Potter just right.   
She, of course, remembered Sirius, Remus, and Peter. All three of those boys meant so much to her.   
Remus was one of the first new friends she made when she went to Hogwarts. He was so clever and far too wise beyond his years. Remus Lupin was always there when she needed him most. He would parole the corridors with her as part of their prefect duties and listen to her complaints. She distinctly remembered the night that she discovered he was a werewolf. The look on his face when he told her was nearly heartbreaking. She couldn’t believe that such a magnificent and kindhearted person could believe he was a monster. In Lily’s opinion, Remus was honestly one of the bravest people she ever had the pleasure of meeting.   
Sirius, on the other hand, took Lily longer to like. When they first met, Lily simply wrote him off as arrogant and foolish. Sure, she may have found him occasionally funny, but it wasn’t enough for her in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t until she had a heart to heart conversation about their siblings that she fully understood and appreciated him and his friendship. Sirius Black had gone through several of the same trials and tribulations that Lily had, connecting them together. Lily knew that Sirius felt like an outcast amongst his family. She prayed that he could find some sort of solace in her. Because, to her, Sirius was her brother and she, his sister.  
Lily Evans always really liked Peter Pettigrew. She found him incredibly kind in comparison to the others and often wondered how he managed to join such a ragtag group of guys. Lily knew that she could always count on Peter when she needed him. She knew how much he wanted to be apart of something much larger than himself and she couldn’t help but love him even more for that.  
But thinking about school forced her to think about Severus. She didn’t necessarily want to, but the memories of him always seemed to pop up into her head. At age ten, Severus Snape was her second best friend, right behind her beloved sister, Petunia. He understood her. He knew that there was something different about her, but it didn’t bother him one bit, unlike Petunia. He even went as far as to say that she was magical. Lily didn’t know if she would ever go as far as to say that, but it made her feel special.   
It wasn’t until her fifth year that everyone went wrong. Their relationship was already on the brink of collapse, but it wasn’t until he called her a “Mudblood” that Lily realized there was no chance of it surviving. She felt so stupid in that moment. She had only been trying to help him, yet he was far too prideful to accept. For nearly a month, Lily couldn’t feel but responsible nearly every time she saw him or any of his fellow Slytherins. She was well aware that it wasn’t her fault, yet the guilt still ate her alive.   
With the memories of Severus came memories of Petunia and her childhood. The look on Petunia’s face when she called Lily a freak sent a shiver down her spine. Lily never understood why her jealousy caused her to be so hateful. Alongside that, Lily remembered the sound of her voice as she stated that Lily was not to be a bridesmaid in her and Vernon’s wedding. Lily knew that both Vernon and Petunia hated her, but deep down, she hoped that they would be able to push it aside for one night. Despite the fact that Lily knew it would be too dangerous for Petunia to attend her own wedding, she couldn’t help but send out an invitation. When it returned back to her, unopened, Lily didn’t know wether to laugh or cry.   
But most importantly, she remembered how she fell for James Potter, despite all of the odds. Her relationship with James had been a rocky one at the start. To put it frankly, she hated him— or so she thought. She spent countless days describing him as an arrogant, belligerent asshole who thought he was too good for those around him. Lily hated how he got away with everything. She hated how he could simple bat his eyelashes and get an extension on his homework. She hated how he bullied the Slytherins, even though she thought they might have deserved it. But more importantly, Lily Evans hated how James Potter always asked her out and didn’t know the definition of “no”.   
Or at least she thought she hated this.   
By her seventh year, long after the unrelenting and overbearing proposals, Lily Evans realized that perhaps she did miss them. But even worse, she realized that she might be in love with him.   
In all honestly, it was a gradual process. Lily wasn’t entirely sure how this came to be. She thinks it started with the friendly remarks between the two of them. When James finally decided to grow up some, she realized that perhaps he wasn’t really that bad of a guy. When she started to hang out with him and the other Marauders, she realized that he was actually really funny. When he consoled her after a particularly bad Slytherin attack— one that resulted in a night a broken ankle, a bloody nose, and a night in the Hospital Wing— she realized that perhaps he was truly caring. But when James sent her letters over the long and monotonous Christmas holiday, detailing his time spent with his parents and Sirius, she found herself waiting and wishing for more. She couldn’t help but tear them open as soon as she received them.   
That was when Lily realized that there may have been something there.  
The next time he asked her out, Lily didn’t even let herself overthink before saying yes.   
She did the same thing when he proposed, not caring that they were only nineteen. There was a war brewing outside and she didn’t know which day would be her last. But she knew that she wanted to spend every single day of her life with James Potter— no matter how long or short that might be.   
She remembered that Sirius Black was James’s best man and that Remus walked her down the aisle, pretending to be her father. She remembered the excitement that she and all of the Marauders shared when they noticed Professor Minerva McGongall in the small crowd, watching along and tearing up like all the others. Lily remembered her first dance with James as Lily Potter and felt as though she was floating on the clouds and never, ever wanted to come down.   
She remembered when she discovered she was pregnant with Harry. She was both so excited and so petrified. It was stupid to have a baby in the middle of the war— both her and James knew that. But when she was surprisingly pregnant, she couldn’t help but be ecstatic about the idea of bringing a child into the world.   
Lily Evans wanted to remember all of these things on the night of Halloween in 1981. But her brain, however, was only focused on two things— her beloved husband, now laying dead downstairs, and her child, poor Harry, who never stood a chance in the cruel world they lived in.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so technically this was written for my English project, in which I practically got to ramble on about my love for Lily Evans. Due to that, I decided to post it.  
> If you actually read it and there was something you liked or hated, please feel free to tell me.  
> Thank you for reading!


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